First Bus are a prominent player in the UK’s public transportation landscape and have been an integral part of daily commuting for decades. Committed to providing efficient and sustainable transportation solutions, they prioritize passenger comfort and environmental responsibility and want to let their staff and customers know about it.
We were tasked with creating a video for First to help promote their recently formed long term partnership with Ipswich Town Football Club. As part of a huge collaboration between multiple parties, we provided a video for First, as well as footage for Ipswich Town, Grayers Graphics, and BBC for an online news piece.
Reverb & First.
What We Did First.
The whole creative process took place very quickly, but we were absolutely up for a challenge. We spent our bank holiday weekend on the road, with two days in Essex and another at the parade in Ipswich.
Discussions led to our brief being to capture the entire process involving their buses. We worked with First to organise initially capturing the bus being wrapped in Ipswich colours and graphics in Essex, before seeing them in action at the First Depot in Ipswich, then to the parade itself.
Marketing tools like this can be a great way to enjoy the success of others and get your brand out there and recognised during newsworthy events.
First had enlisted the talent of Grayers Graphics to wrap their buses, having experience doing so for the Brazil National Team’s bus during their friendly with England in March 2024.
We spent the first two days of our three-day shoot with them in Essex, initially capturing the bus being wrapped blue, then the Ipswich and Premier League graphics being applied.
While the wrapping isn’t the conventially exciting part of the video, showing the process of what First commissioned for their partnership allowed us to have something to build toward in the video, while showing a complete narrative.
The Wrapping.
The Parade.
Thanks to First’s new partnership, we collaborated with Ipswich Town and the local authorities to gain access to shoot at the training ground, on the streets during parade and right in the heart of the celebrations in the park.
Being so involved in the action, we were able to capture incredible footage of the sheer emotion of the fans, as well as the joy of the players and staff. This, coupled with the behind-the-scenes aspect of shooting the buses being wrapped really helped show an interesting angle to a widely covered story.
First have shared these videos on all of their social platforms, capitalising on the widespread coverage of this event.
BBC News have written an article documenting the wrapping process, using our footage to showcase how it was done.
Ipswich have used what we captured as part of their promotion promotion, helping them with their marketing push during their time in the limelight.
“Reverb have worked with us on a number of projects and everything they have produced has been excellent and impactful. They are a pleasure to work with and have become an important part of our team.”
Claire Quinton-Tulloch – PR Manager, First Eastern Counties
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